“There’s none of that boys’ club mentality that put me off looking at some other studios.” Name: Emma Dickson Studio: Sumo Digital (Newcastle) Job Title: UI Programmer Education: MSc Creative Software Systems
28 DAYS LATER
Taking a new opportunity in the industry can open a door to the job of your dreams. We catch up with a recent career mover at the start of their exciting new role through recruitment specialist Amiqus Congratulations on the amazing new job! What inspired you about Sumo to come and join them? Initially I was interested in the role when I saw that Sumo was looking for a UI specialist, which was an area that I’d previously done some work in as a generalist programmer and really enjoyed, to the point where I was quite interested in making it my main focus. I was invited to visit for an interview and was really impressed by the amount of experience the folks here have and felt like it was somewhere I could learn a lot and improve my own skills working with them. What’s the culture like at Sumo and what’s your experience been like fitting in? Everyone has been very welcoming here; it’s a casual, friendly environment while at the same time we’re all working hard on making great games. There’s none of that boys’ club mentality that put me off looking at some other studios. Even as a relatively junior member of the team, I get to give feedback and feel like my ideas are listened to, while I also receive lots of useful comments to improve my own work. What are you most excited about bringing to the role? I’m really excited to be somewhere with so much opportunity to learn
new skills, so I’d say it’s my enthusiasm to learn more and make great games. What will working at Sumo do for your career? Being here gives me a great opportunity to work on a variety of different IPs and collaborate with some great people, which will be great experience. And with regular feedback and performance reviews I feel like it’s somewhere that I can develop my career for years to come. What would you like to say to anyone thinking about or undertaking a job move in this industry? My two top tips – do your research and don’t be afraid of getting rejected. Find out who’s hiring and for what, talk to people who have worked there and get a feel for what different studios are like. Then get some applications out to anywhere you feel would be a fit and don’t be afraid to apply even if you don’t meet all the job requirements at face value. You will get rejections, but that’s all part of the process. Get feedback whenever you can – one place turned me down after a couple of interviews because they felt like my skills would be better suited for a UI specialist role than the generalist role they had available. That made me think about applying for specialist jobs and I’m really glad I did!
September 2018 MCV 939 | 23